Where is that referenced? I've been trying to find supporting documentation around that, but the last KB I saw published is no longer available from kb.vmware.com.
Also, it's just a display name ... and I know they use it in the pathing, but the VM originated as windows2012r2 ... and has not be SvMotioned to re-create the DIRs.
I personally think it's kind of silly to be this resistant to any special character in some places but not others. If it wasn't allowed, then don't let me rename the VM to include offending characters.